Thursday, June 5, 2014

LIBYA, EGYPT, THAILAND AND SYRIA: CAUTIONARY TALES ABOUT WHY REVOLUTIONS NO LONGER WORK

Not a day passes when I don't hear talk about revolution from some right wing website pissed a black man is in charge, and a democrat none the less. Cliven Bundy supporters, Sean Hannity listeners and the like are all ready to start the American Revolution 2 and damn the consequences. And while I agree with them on the part that says our government is filled to the hilt with a cesspool of stupidity, I whole heartedly disagree with most of their positions on how to fix anything. Voting more Republicans into office is the definitive way to end this country not fix it. And asking for a violent overthrow of the government is just asking for trouble as recent history shows, no revolution has worked out the way their supporters thought.

Take Egypt for example. People stood up and took out the dictator Mubarak with less than stellar results. First, as there was no consensus on what to replace it with (the Republican way if I ever heard one), petty squabbles allowed the Muslim Brotherhood to walk away with the election, the same way we allowed the Tea Party to become such a driving force back in 2010. When the people rebelled against that, the military took over, with the head of the military Al-Sisi recently winning almost 97% of the vote. He accomplished this by crushing dissent, arresting anyone who disagreed with him in worse numbers than either of his two predecessors and outlawing protests. Egypt went from trying to win a free democracy and instead would up under the thumb of a junta far more authoritarian than what anyone really wanted. Be careful of what you wish for, goes the old saying as well as the devil you know.

Thailand is doing the exact same thing. After months of protests, the military disposed the ruling family, imposed military rule and, just like Egypt, outlawed all forms of protest. People have resorted to sitting in places in mass numbers reading books like 1984 and giving three finger salutes, ala the Hunger Games. Yes another example of a place where democracy and fairness was replaced by a junta with an agenda.

Libya and Syria and examples of what happens when a revolution devolves into anarchy. Libya is so bad, US personnel are being told to leave. Syria is a war zone, where an upcoming election all but guarantees Assad to win. Even if the rebels somehow beat Assad, what replaces it will most likely be even worse, as religious morons take over and impose strict Sharia law, demoting women to second class citizens and putting to death homosexuals, dissidents and anyone not Muslim. Yeah, much better.

This shows that here we have to find a much more peaceful way to rebel because overthrowing a government sounds good on paper, but in reality it seem to work against the very people who started it.

The quickest way is for liberals to get off their lazy asses and fucking vote. Every demographic shows liberals outweigh conservatives by a vast majority. We also see as much as 80% of these people stay home election day. It is the sole reason we still have morons in office like Boehner, Cruz and, yes, even democrats like Reid and Pelosi.

In 2014 we have a chance to save ourselves, and if the economic data I am looking at is right, it will be our last chance. There is already a 50/50 chances that we won't even make it until November so voting better be a huge priority for all of you reading this. India's recent election saw 500 million vote, or almost 90% of the voting populace. Ours is around 30%. If we don't vote out every single Republican out of office in 2014 that can be defeated, this country won't last the year. We need to give democrats all the rope to hang themselves with, and when they fail, which they will, we can start demanding more from them or else threaten them with the axe too. We need enough people to get money out of politics, and there are already dozens on the left who want to do just that. We need hundreds in office and then we can start fixing things that are beyond broken.

The stock market is soaring today on news that the European Central Bank went nuclear today and are now offering negative interest rates. So if you have money in a European bank, you will soon have to pay for the privilege of having an account with them, if they pass the costs on to the consumer which is about 100% they will. Current Fed chief Janet Yellen has expressed interest in doing that here as well. Nevermind the fact, that if that happens I am taking my money out of any bank and storing it somewhere else because I will make more money that way. Europeans are certain to do the same, but yet the stock market soared over the news, showing a fundamental lack of understanding over how banking is supposed to work. This is a very bad idea and one that could collapse the banking system worldwide if negative rates are adopted to personal accounts as well. Supposedly this is going to stimulate lending, but that assumes that anyone has money to actually get a loan which no one does. Brilliant.

Social Security stats suggest we are getting paid way less this year for services. Last year, 50% of this country made less than 32,500. This year is tracking to be 50% of us make 27,500 or less now. That's a drop of five thousand dollars in a single year. Yet, food prices are skyrocketing due to climate change, derivative speculation, a complete lack of regulation on food safety causing more and more outbreaks and therefore food recalls, and other stupid factors that could be fixed if we honestly addressed them. Food prices have risen anywhere from 15-22% over the last year while we are making less and less money. Sooner later, that's going to break us all.

All signs point to a massive collapse and soon. Housing is starting to fall again as dumb money seems to be the only thing keeping it afloat. Investors are scaled back dramatically, and first time home sales have plunged to a twenty year low. Stocks continue to rise even though most of the companies on the stock exchange don't appear to be in good shape, like JC Penny, Sears or Staples to name just three of dozens facing bankruptcy.

Still think I am blowing smoke? Check out this graph comparing today to 1929. See anything similar?

According to this graph, if history repeats itself, we are facing an epic collapse of housing and stocks within the next few months. If it does, revolution may be our worst enemy. Vote in 2014 and make your voice heard. If you don't, it will be far too late to do anything about it by 2016.